Memories
by InsaneNuclearUnit
Summary: SasuxNaru. Oneshot. Is this where it all began? With the two sixyearold's strong friendship? All fluff.


Memories...

The mountain was more like a castle in his brilliant blue eyes. His blonde hair flew in the wind asitruffled it playfully. The six-year old stared down at the structure, proud of his accomplishments. It towered above all the other sand-mountains in the pit, and its little flag with the Ninja Village hidden in the Leaves logo on it flapped in the wind excitedly. Naruto felt his chest swell with pride. His castle.

"It's stupid."

Naruto's head whirled around. There stood Sasuke, in his usual black clothes, his deep, dark eyes hollow. He took a step foreword and leaned down to get a better look at the flag.

"It's stupid." he repeated.

Naruto's spirits pummeled down into hell. Sasuke didn't like it. Sasuke didn't like his castle.

"I… I'm sorry…" he managed to choke out, feeling tears sting his eyes. "I'll build a new one."

"Ninjas don't build castles." snorted Sasuke, turning back around and beginning to walk away.

Naruto's eyes reverted back to his sand-mountain. Now that he looked at it, it was indeed pathetic. Sasuke was right. Ninjas didn't build castles. And if he was going to be a ninja some day, he was going to have to learn to be without castles. Standing up defiantly, he kicked over the mound of sand. It crushed easily, and the little flag was buried underneath the rubble in seconds.

So many hours of work… wasted.

Naruto wiped his eyes.

_Ninjas don't cry._

He ran to catch up with Sasuke.

"Sasu-chan, wait!" he cried, afraid that he wasn't fast enough to keep up.

"Don't call me that!" Sasuke turned on his heel and glared right at Naruto. "Didn't I tell you?"

"I-I'm s-sorry Sasuke-san." whispered Naruto, his knees trembling. He bit his lower lip. He would not cry. He would not cry…

_Sasu-chan yelled at him!_

"Are you crying?" Sasuke's eyes arrowed in suspicion.

Naruto's head snapped up hurriedly. "No." he said, tears rolling down his cheeks freely now. He waited for Sasuke to tell him just how stupid and childish that was, but no punch line came. Instead, he watched Sasuke as the boy shook his head, then turned around and disappeared into the alley.

"SASU-CHAAAN!" wailed Naruto, darting after him.

He heard his blue sandals hit the ground softly as he ran, but he saw nothing in the darkness. He was in between two buildings now, and the only source of light was from behind him, a narrow strip of it, sneaking in from the brightly sunlit street. Naruto stopped. He was sure that Sasuke had gone down this path. But where was he? Naruto blinked worriedly, trying to let his eyes adjust to the dark faster, but it was no use.

A small pebble rolling out of place was enough to make Naruto's heart beat faster. He spun around, his eyes darting back and forth. Was someone here with him? It wasn't Sasu-chan, he knew that much. It couldn't have been Sasu-chan.

"Hey, Fox." A deep, growling voice from right behind him. Naruto closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable. That nickname could only mean thing. Just as his body relaxed, a rough foot came in contact with his back, shoving him down onto the ground.

"Stupid fox." Voice snickered all around him. Naruto remained still. This was no time to argue. And besides, he was only six. These boys sounded like they were ten.

Feet, fists, clubs rained down upon Naruto in a fury of blows. For a while, Naruto wanted to cry, but he didn't. And now, it all seemed like a dull itch, Naruto had forgotten where he was, who he was, and what was happening. The rude comments didn't reach his ears. He felt himself slipping into darkness, and then, miraculously… the pain stopped.

Naruto pulled himself back. It was odd. Usually, they took much longer to finish their business, and then dumped him somewhere on the outskirts of the village.

"Leave him." A voice colder than snow. It cut through the air like a Kunai.

"Uchiha…" the voices mumbled as one. There was a hint of dislike in them.

Naruto felt a shiver run through his body. _Sasu-chan!_

"You've had your fun." Sasuke said. "Now leave him."

"Fine." Naruto noticed the same growling voice of the gang leader. "C'mon guys. I bet Uchiha is just here to beat up the fox some more."

Sasuke made no comment on that. He simply stood there, watching the rest of the boys disappear down the alleyway. When Naruto was sure they were gone, he slowly opened his eyes. The right one hurt and he immediately knew that he'd been punched.

"Sasu-chan…" whispered Naruto. He tasted salt – his lip was bleeding.

"Quiet." ordered Sasuke.

"You saved me…" Naruto ignored Sasuke's harsh tone. "Thanks…"

"They're just jerks." Sasuke got down onto his knees, sitting by Naruto's side. "Did they beat you up before?"

"It's ok." Naruto forced a smile.

"That's not what I asked you. Naruto, did they beat you up before?"

Naruto moved his palm so that it rested against the ground flatly and pushed himself into a somewhat sitting position. Sasuke glared at him.

"I'm used to it."

"Is that a yes?"

Naruto couldn't bite his lip in fear that it would cause more pain. His heart was thumping against his chest. Would Sasu-chan consider him a weakling?

"It doesn't hurt."

Sasuke reached out and carefully touched a bruise on the base of Naruto's neck. The boy winced.

"Liar."

"Are you mad?"

"Yes."

"At me?"

"At them."

"Oh." Naruto swallowed. "It's ok."

"You said that before. Why do they pick on you?"

Naruto paused to stare at the ground. Would he know? It'd happened so many times before; he'd nearly forgotten to ask himself that question. It didn't even matter anymore – the main problem here was survival. Handling it from day to day. he licked the blood off of his lip.

"I don't know." He admitted. His blue eyes looked up to Sasuke. He was sitting there, before Naruto, his perfect face twisted by anger. His dark eyes flashing furiously. "Sasu-chan…" Naruto mumbled.

Sasuke fixed his gaze on Naruto.

"Thank you." he whispered.

In the shadows of Sasuke's eyes, something flashed. Compassion?

Before Naruto could say any more, the boy leaned in and planted a small kiss on Naruto's forehead. The blonde boy froze on his spot, afraid to lose what he'd just received – warmth blossoming from the very stop Sasuke's lips had touched. It spread to every point in his body, dissolving the pain.

Sasuke pulled away, and Naruto saw that his usually pale and calm face was bright crimson, and embarrassed.

"Sasu-chan…" Naruto's eyes grew wide.

"I'm sorry, I uh…" he jumped to his feet suddenly, about to run off. Naruto grabbed his wrist, pulling him back.

"Don't leave!" he begged. "That was really nice…" Naruto felt himself blushing too.

They sat alone in the shadows for a while, enjoying each other's company like none other. Finally, Sasuke sighed. He stood up and began to walk away, down the alleyway. Without making a sound, Naruto jumped up and limped after him. They ventured out into the streets and walked back towards Sasuke's home, side by side.

"If they pick on you again… Call me, alright?" Sasuke's dark eyes finally seemed calm, but there was still a hint of worry in there.

Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Sasu-chan."


End file.
